516 MR. TRIMEN ON MIMETIC ANALOGIES AMONG AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



terflies would enable us to distinguish several local races, if not distinct species ; but, 

 with the scanty information at hand, the attem^Dt to do so would prove of little value. 



As already mentioned, certain varieties of this abundant Acrcea (which is known to 

 inhabit Sierra Leone, Ashanti, Old Calabar, the Gaboon, and Congo) are the objects of 

 imitation by varieties of Panopea Hirce, ? , received from Congo and Old Calabar. The 

 particular varieties of the Acrcca that are so imitated are known to inhabit the same 

 localities as the mimickers. 



Another imitator is the scarce Eurytelide, Ilelanitis Phegea, Fab. This butterfly, 

 like others of its family, is marked on the underside of the wings with numerous short 

 transverse lines ; and it is interesting to observe how, at the base of the hind wings, 

 several of these lines are confluently grouped, in manifest imitation of the spots which 

 occupy the same position in the Acrcea. The fulvous-marked examples of M. Phegea, 

 of which I have seen two, appear to be males ; but the variety of Em-yta which they 

 most closely resemble is a female, figured by Mr. Hewitson {loc. cit. f. 30), in which the 

 fulvous bar of the fore wings is rather narroAV and with an ochreous tinge, and the inner 

 inargin coloured with fulvous. The white-banded females of the Ilelanitis co-pj the ? 

 AcrcBa figured on the same plate (f. 31), which has the band of the fore wings rather 

 broader than usual, and that of the hind wings, with the inner margin of the fore wings, 

 slightly tinged with yellow. M. Phegea has been brought from Old Calal^ar and Ashanti, 

 as well as from other West- African regions not specially recorded. 



8. ACR.EA Aganice, Hewits. (Tab. XLII. fig. 2.) 



Acrcea Agcmice, Hewits. Exot. Butt. ii. pi. 6. f. 3 ; Trimen, Rliop. Afr. Austr. i. p. 109. n. 69. 



This Acrcea is closely related to A. Eimjta, Linn., difi'ering chiefly in the smaller 

 size and distinct coloration of the male, which has the pale bands yellowish, or yel- 

 lomsh white, instead of fulvous. It is only known to occur in the South of Africa, 

 inhabiting Kafixaria proper and Natal, and is accompanied in the latter district by a 

 mimicking Pcmopea, which is nearly allied to P. Lucretia, Cram., and which I have 

 recently described, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, as P. 

 Tarqumia. I mentioned {loc. cit.) the fact of this Nymphalide flying in the same woods 

 with AcraaAganice, and have noted its rarity*, and how completely in general appearance 

 and habits it resembles its model. When, however, the insects are closely compared, 

 the mimicry is not so striking, as the Panopea possesses an additional small whitish bar 

 near the apex of the fore wings ; but this is a subordinate feature, not noticeable when 

 the butterfly is on the wing. 



9. AcR^A Ltcoa, Godt. 



Acraa Lycoa, Godt. Enc. Meth. ix. p. 239. u. 27. 



A range of some extent is recorded for this Acrcea, viz. Sierra Leone, Ashanti, Calabar, 



* Since the paper referred to was written, I have seen two other examples of Tarqumia in Mr. Hewitson's col- 

 lection—one from Natal, and the other from the Zambesi. The former of these has much yellower hands than those 

 of the two that I met with in Natal, and evidently copies the yellower examples of Aganice. 



